Da Costa charges for Formula E title with a third straight win at Portland E-Prix

Antonio Felix da Costa concluded the Portland E-Prix weekend undefeated after claiming his third straight Formula E victory, extending his late-season charge.

Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa secured his third consecutive race win in a wild second Portland E-Prix race as points leader Nick Cassidy struggled to score again.

In an all-out battle marked by several crashes and front wings damaged by intense wheel-to-wheel racing into hard braking zones, da Costa really emerged as the race leader following the deployment of a safety car to clear the debris resulting from the crashes.

He took the lead on lap 21 of 26 (later extended to 27 due to the safety car) and proceeded to win ahead of Robin Frijns.

Jaguar driver Mitch Evans claimed the final podium position in third, to move equal second in the drivers’ championship ahead behind team mate Cassidy, who finished outside the top 10.

At the start, pole winner Jean-Eric Vergne happily surrendered the lead to fall into the pack and save energy, with McLaren’s Jake Hughes becoming the early leader ahead of Nyck de Vries and Frijns.

There was early trouble for championship contender Pascal Wehrlein, who lost his front wing on lap six. The wing dropped off along the back straight where it was collected by Sam Bird’s McLaren, sending him off track and falling to the rear.

However, the Porsche driver was able to continue without losing too much performance relative to his rivals. Lap 13 turned out to be chaotic as several cars were caught up in a crunch at the first chicane with Cassidy among the cars that suffered damage and required a trip to the pit lane for emergency repairs.

Despite the damage to his car, Wehrlein continued to run towards the front with Porsche team mate Antonio Felix da Costa. With under 10 laps remaining, the Safety Car was suddenly deployed due to the volume of debris littering the circuit.

The Safety Car period allowed Cassidy and many of the cars who had been forced to pit with damage to rejoin the pack. The race restarted at the start of lap 21 with Frijns leading from Da Costa and Wehrlein.

Da Costa assumed the lead at the restart, while Evans passed Wehrlein and Frijns for second. Frijns repassed Evans at the start of the penultimate lap for second, then tried to put Da Costa under pressure on the final lap, but was unable to trouble him. The Porsche driver took the chequered flag and extended his winning streak.

Evans claimed the final podium position in third ahead of Wehrlein in fourth with Vergne behind. Nico Muller took sixth ahead of Norman Nato, Maximilian Guenther and Sebastien Buemi with Jake Dennis taking the final point.

Cassidy’s 12th place meant he failed to score a single point across the weekend but still leads the championship on 167 points.

However heading into the season finale double header in two weeks’ time his team mate Evans has moved up to second, tied on 155 points with Wehrlein. Da Costa ranks fourth with 134 points.

2024 Portland E-Prix Race Results